A Rare Great War Battle Damaged Maxim MG 08 Complete with Trench Mount, of standard production specification This battle damaged Maxim MG.08 was captured and taken as a prize during the Great War, when it entered the UK it would have been given a 'G' prefix number as a record of the gun and action - as with many 'souvenirs' and with the advent of the 1924 firearms act it disappeared, and at the outbreak of hostilities again in 1939 it would have been restored to firing condition by its owner and comrades in the Home Guard, at the end of the war in 1945 it disappeared once more, until eventually in the 1990s it was excavated from a garden of a large house, on the South Coast, purchased by a dealer and de-activated' The Maschinengewehr 08, or MG 08, was the German Army's standard machine gun in World War I and is an adaption of Hiram S. Maxim's original 1884 Maxim gun. It was produced in a number of variants during the war. The MG 08 served during World War II as a heavy machine gun in many German infantry divisions, although by the end of the war it had mostly been relegated to second-rate fortress units. The Maschinengewehr 08 (or MG 08)-so-named after 1908, its year of adoption-was a development of the license made Maschinengewehr 01. It could reach a firing rate of up to 400 rounds per minute using 250-round fabric belts of 7.92mm x 57mm ammunition, although sustained firing would lead to overheating; it was water-cooled using a jacket around the barrel that held approximately one gallon of water. Using a separate attachment sight with range calculator for indirect fire, the MG 08 could be operated from cover. Additional telescopic sights were also developed and used in quantity during the war. The MG 08, like the Maxim gun, operated on the basis of short barrel recoil and a toggle lock; once cocked and fired the MG 08 would continue firing rounds until the trigger was released (or until all available ammunition was expended). Its practical range was estimated at some 2,000m (2,200yd) up to an extreme range of 3,600m (3,900yd). The MG 08 was mounted on a sled mount (German: Schlittenlafette) that was ferried between locations either on carts or else carried above men's shoulders in the manner of a stretcher.
A Rare Great War Battle Damaged Maxim MG 08 Complete with Trench Mount, of standard production specification This battle damaged Maxim MG.08 was captured and taken as a prize during the Great War, when it entered the UK it would have been given a 'G' prefix number as a record of the gun and action - as with many 'souvenirs' and with the advent of the 1924 firearms act it disappeared, and at the outbreak of hostilities again in 1939 it would have been restored to firing condition by its owner and comrades in the Home Guard, at the end of the war in 1945 it disappeared once more, until eventually in the 1990s it was excavated from a garden of a large house, on the South Coast, purchased by a dealer and de-activated' The Maschinengewehr 08, or MG 08, was the German Army's standard machine gun in World War I and is an adaption of Hiram S. Maxim's original 1884 Maxim gun. It was produced in a number of variants during the war. The MG 08 served during World War II as a heavy machine gun in many German infantry divisions, although by the end of the war it had mostly been relegated to second-rate fortress units. The Maschinengewehr 08 (or MG 08)-so-named after 1908, its year of adoption-was a development of the license made Maschinengewehr 01. It could reach a firing rate of up to 400 rounds per minute using 250-round fabric belts of 7.92mm x 57mm ammunition, although sustained firing would lead to overheating; it was water-cooled using a jacket around the barrel that held approximately one gallon of water. Using a separate attachment sight with range calculator for indirect fire, the MG 08 could be operated from cover. Additional telescopic sights were also developed and used in quantity during the war. The MG 08, like the Maxim gun, operated on the basis of short barrel recoil and a toggle lock; once cocked and fired the MG 08 would continue firing rounds until the trigger was released (or until all available ammunition was expended). Its practical range was estimated at some 2,000m (2,200yd) up to an extreme range of 3,600m (3,900yd). The MG 08 was mounted on a sled mount (German: Schlittenlafette) that was ferried between locations either on carts or else carried above men's shoulders in the manner of a stretcher.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
